Artwork Description
Joseph Eads – Birth of Music
Dimensions: 66.5 x 47″ framed / 63.5 x 44″ unframed
Year: c. 1998
Medium: oil and pigment on canvas
Joseph Eads-Birth of Music
Joseph Eads was an artist/alchemist. He spent his life studying color theory and the effect of color on the psyche. He gathered his pigments from nature, the blues often ground lapis lazuli and the earth tones from areas in which he lived, such as New Mexico and later, Brazil. This work is so wonderful and the effect of color in this work reminds me of seeing tones in the moonlight, early morning light or just after sundown. Light plays an important role in how color is perceived. Just as an artist will mix his paints with tones of black to white. In his artistic process, Eads creates subtle atmospheres of light and dark. Even though his color usage is subtle, it still creates a vibrant and complex image. This work has a Cubist effect, realized by Eads’ ability to see all sides at once and portray them as if they are in motion, in the same way music achieves a sense of motion by virtue of traveling through time and space.
-Stephen Buxton